The Jane Goodall Institute is sharing an email the famed primatologist sent to Thane Maynard, director of the Cincinnati Zoo, following the death of Harambe.
On Saturday, the 17-year-old Western lowland silverback gorilla was shot and killed after a 4-year-old boy fell 15 feet from the railing of the animal's exhibit and into the enclosure. Video shows Harambe grabbing the child and taking him around the enclosure while onlookers, including the boy's mother, watched in horror and screamed at the primate and young child.
“The idea of waiting and shooting it with a hypodermic was not a good idea,” Maynard said at a press conference Monday, as to why the zoo chose to shoot the animal with bullets instead of tranquilizer darts. “That would have definitely created alarm in the male gorilla. When you dart an animal, anesthetic doesn’t work in one second, it works over a period of a few minutes to 10 minutes. The risk was due to the power of that animal.”
And while Maynard has defended the actions taken by the zoo, stating they were necessary because the powerful animal was “acting erratically” and was “disoriented,” Goodall's email seems to suggest there could've been an alternative.
“It looked as though the gorilla was putting an arm round the child — like the female who rescued and returned the child from the Chicago exhibit,” she writes.
Goodall is most likely referring to Binti Jua, a female gorilla at the Brookfield Zoo, who, in 1996, picked up and cradled a child who fell into her enclosure, ultimately delivering the boy to keepers waiting at the exhibit's service door.
Director of the Yerkes National Primate Research Living Links Center at Emory University and fellow primatologist Frans de Waal also stated that he noticed a lack of violence in the animal's action, writing on Facebook: “Harambe was mostly protective. He showed a combination of protection and confusion. He stood over the child, held him up, moved/dragged him through the water (at least once very roughly), stood over him again. Much of his reaction may have been triggered by public noise and yelling.”
“Are they allowed to see, and express grief, which seems to be so important,” she asks before ending her email with the signature, “Feeling for you.”
When asked for more commentary, The Jane Goodall Institute replied that both the Institute and Jane Goodall are currently refraining from making additional statements outside the email.
Captain Paul Watson
Commentary by Captain Paul Watson
Harambe is dead because an irresponsible and negligent mother allowed her 4-year old son to fall into a Gorilla enclosure.
Think about that for a moment.
This mother allowed her “4-year old ” son to climb over a fence and approach a 15 foot drop onto a concrete floor. Forget about the fact that there was a gorilla down there, what the hell was she doing while her child made his way towards what could be a fatal fall.
She should be charged with criminal negligence and child abuse.
As a parent I find it incomprehensible that another parent would stand there and do nothing but scream. I would have immediately and without hesitation have jumped into that enclosure to protect my child, no matter the risks and It would not have been the gorilla that would worry me but rather the consequence of the 15-foot drop. But again as a parent I can’t even imagine how a 4-year old child was able to wander away . Was she texting someone or chatting on her cell phone?
Now this woman wants us to respect her privacy. She thanked the Lord for delivering her baby back to her. Well woman, it was not the Lord. Harambe was trying to help your child until some idiots with guns decided to settle the issue the way most police and security in America tend to settle an issue – with deadly force.
Harambe is dead, a day after his 17th birthday, because the people who run the Cincinnati Zoo are grossly incompetent. If they had any knowledge and understanding about lowland gorillas they would have quickly observed that Harambe meant no harm to the child and was in fact protecting him.
What we saw was an incredible act of compassion by a gorilla for a human child. An act of kindness and concern that was rewarded with a bullet.
Harambe is dead because of a bunch of ignorant human gawkers kept screaming, thus motivating the horrific response. Where were the keepers? Surely they could see that Harambe was not behaving violently. What kind of ignorant and incompetent cowards do they have working at that damn zoo anyhow?
Harambe is dead because zoos are no place for wild animals to be imprisoned.
Harambe should have been in the lowland jungles of Africa, with his own kind doing what gorillas were born to do and that means being a gorilla, not some character in a freak show so a bunch of gawking ignorant anthropocentric hominids can stare, tease, laugh, and take selfies.
I swear it is incidents like these that make me see how utterly pathetic and clueless human beings can be.
The killing of Harambe was cold-blooded, unprovoked and senseless murder and the fingers of those who pulled the trigger belong to a special kind of stupid.
The zoo feebly tried to defend the shooting in a release where they stated: “The gorilla was violently dragging and throwing the child.”
This was not what eye witnesses saw and the proof that this statement is a lie is the very fact that the child was released from the hospital shortly after, unharmed, and if a 400 pound gorilla was actually being violent there is no way that child would have remained unharmed.
Harambe died because we enslave gorillas and other animals for our entertainment.
Predictably the zoos trotted out their go-to apologist Jack Hanna to proclaim that the zoo did the right thing, that it was a choice between a gorilla and a human being.
No it was not. The kid was not going to be killed by this gorilla. In fact there is no case of a gorilla in captivity ever killing a child and these gorillas are actually approachable in the wild.
But Jack Hanna gets paid to spew such nonsense because if he actually knew anything about gorillas he would have understood what Harambe was trying to do.
And what about the child whose hand Harambe gently held in his own? What kind of trauma will this boy experience from seeing the gentle being who tried to help him gunned down because a few pathetic individuals wanted to pretend Harambe was King Kong and the they were stupidly trying to save Faye Wray.
What brings tears to my eyes, what makes me sick inside is the knowledge that this noble creature was trying to help, that he knew the child was in trouble and his compassion was contemptuously dismissed with bullets.
I am disgusted with the Cincinnati zoo, disgusted with the men who killed Harambe, and disgusted with this pathetic excuse for a mother who is the root cause of this tragedy.
I feel pity for the boy, because for the next 14 years or so he will have to live with this woman and with the knowledge that because she allowed him to fall into that enclosure Harambe, the kindly creature that held his hand, is now dead.
Added comment. Thane Maynard the zoo director said that despite the boy's ability to climb over the barrier, the exhibit is safe. "People can climb over barriers, and that's what happened." Now that is a really asinine comment. If it was safe the boy would not have fallen in. The incident demonstrated that it is not safe. When a 4 year old can get into an enclosure with any animal at a zoo, the security at the zoo is seriously flawed.
I am going to try to clear up a few things that have been weighing on me about Harambe and the Cinci Zoo since I read the news this afternoon.
I have worked with Gorillas as a zookeeper while in my twenties (before children) and they are my favorite animal (out of dozens) that I have ever worked closely with. I am gonna go ahead and list a few facts, thoughts and opinions for those of you that aren't familiar with the species itself, or how a zoo operates in emergency situations.
Now Gorillas are considered 'gentle giants' at least when compared with their more aggressive cousins the chimpanzee, but a 400+ pound male in his prime is as strong as roughly 10 adult humans. What can you bench press? OK, now multiply that number by ten. An adult male silverback gorilla has one job, to protect his group. He does this by bluffing or intimidating anything that he feels threatened by.
Gorillas are considered a Class 1 mammal, the most dangerous class of mammals in the animal kingdom, again, merely due to their size and strength. They are grouped in with other apes, tigers, lions, bears, etc.
While working in an AZA accredited zoo with Apes, keepers DO NOT work in contact with them. Meaning they do NOT go in with these animals. There is always a welded mesh barrier between the animal and the humans.
In more recent decades, zoos have begun to redesign enclosures, removing all obvious caging and attempting to create a seamless view of the animals for the visitor to enjoy watching animals in a more natural looking habitat. *this is great until little children begin falling into exhibits* which of course can happen to anyone, especially in a crowded zoo-like setting.
I have watched this video over again, and with the silverback's postering, and tight lips, it's pretty much the stuff of any keeper's nightmares, and I have had MANY while working with them. This job is not for the complacent. Gorillas are kind, curious, and sometimes silly, but they are also very large, very strong animals. I always brought my OCD to work with me. checking and rechecking locks to make sure my animals and I remained separated before entering to clean.
I keep hearing that the Gorilla was trying to protect the boy. I do not find this to be true. Harambe reaches for the boys hands and arms, but only to position the child better for his own displaying purposes.
Males do very elaborate displays when highly agitated, slamming and dragging things about. Typically they would drag large branches, barrels and heavy weighted balls around to make as much noise as possible. Not in an effort to hurt anyone or anything (usually) but just to intimidate. It was clear to me that he was reacting to the screams coming from the gathering crowd.
Harambe was most likely not going to separate himself from that child without seriously hurting him first (again due to mere size and strength, not malicious intent) Why didn't they use treats? well, they attempted to call them off exhibit (which animals hate), the females in the group came in, but Harambe did not. What better treat for a captive animal than a real live kid!
They didn't use Tranquilizers for a few reasons, A. Harambe would've taken too long to become immobilized, and could have really injured the child in the process as the drugs used may not work quickly enough depending on the stress of the situation and the dose B. Harambe would've have drowned in the moat if immobilized in the water, and possibly fallen on the boy trapping him and drowning him as well.
Many zoos have the protocol to call on their expertly trained dart team in the event of an animal escape or in the event that a human is trapped with a dangerous animal. They will evaluate the scene as quickly and as safely as possible, and will make the most informed decision as how they will handle the animal.
I can't point fingers at anyone in this situation, but we need to really evaluate the safety of the animal enclosures from the visitor side. Not impeding that view is a tough one, but there should be no way that someone can find themselves inside of an animal's exhibit.
I know one thing for sure, those keepers lost a beautiful, and I mean gorgeous silverback and friend. I feel their loss with them this week. As educators and conservators of endangered species, all we can do is shine a light on the beauty and majesty of these animals in hopes to spark a love and a need to keep them from vanishing from our planet. Child killers, they are not. It's unfortunate for the conservation of the species, and the loss of revenue a beautiful zoo such as Cinci will lose. tragedy all around.
*me working (very carefully) with a 400+ pound silverback circa 2009
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